Lilah's List (4 page)

L
ilah felt Tyler's breath on her ear as he spoke, and his words registered with a jolt.
I'm going to take you to bed.

She jerked back from him, off balance from the unexpected erotic thrill tingling the base of her spine.

Tyler reached out and steadied her with both hands, preventing her from reeling back into a passing waitress with a tray full of drinks.

“I'm so sorry,” Tyler said as she pulled herself together. “I should never have said that. I didn't mean to startle you. I was just trying to be clever. And it was an inappropriate remark.”

“No, no. It was fine,” she tried to reassure him, feeling foolish for getting so flustered. “I can take a joke.”

“Why don't we go sit down?” He looked around. “Where's your friend?”

“Angie went to the bar. Will she be able to find us if we get in be—uh, sit down?”

“I'll make sure she does,” he assured her.

He began steering her toward one of the large beds along the far left of the room. A waitress helped them settle in by tucking their shoes in a drawer below and exchanging them for terry-cloth slippers emblazoned with the word Duvet.

Just as Lilah was awkwardly climbing onto the mattress, Angie arrived with two green apple martinis. Tyler helped Angie juggle the drinks as she took off her boots and joined them on the bed. Lilah and Tyler had checked their coats, but Angie insisted that hers was an integral piece of her ensemble.

Lilah quickly discovered that it was hard to recline comfortably and keep her cocktail dress from riding up. She finally arranged herself into a suitably modest position, wishing desperately that she'd worn pants.

“I'm not sure whose idea this was—” Angie started.

“I know. It's the worst,” Lilah chimed in.

“—but, I love it,” Angie finished at the same time.

“You don't like it? I think it's great.” Angie was propped against the row of cream, satin pillows with her long legs stretched out in front of her. Her long jacket draped her legs.

Tyler looked right at home, too. He was stretched across the bottom of the mattress giving him plenty of room for his legs, as he propped his head on his palm. He would also have a bird's eye view of Lilah's underwear if she forgot herself and moved her legs.

“What brings you ladies to New York?”

“I live here,” Angie answered. “I design costumes for a playhouse in Greenwich Village, and Lilah's just visiting for the next two weeks. We've got to check off the rest of her list before November 10th.”

Tyler nodded. “That's a pretty ambitious task. How many things have you gotten done since you got to New York?”

Lilah chewed her lip. “I flew in this morning, first-class. That was one. And we crashed this party. That was two.”

“So what's this big soiree for, anyway?” Angie asked, sipping her martini, then placing it back on the clear doughnut-shaped tray for drinks in the center of the bed.

“It's a corporate launch party for a new men's cologne called Isosceles.” He pointed toward the center of the room, and Lilah noticed for the first time that there were large pyramid displays of triangular cologne bottles.

“Since Reggie's single is called ‘Love Triangle' his publicist thought this would be a good opportunity for some cross promotion.”

Lilah's heart sped up. “Will Reggie be performing tonight?”

“No. He agreed to make an appearance and sign copies of his single. He convinced a few of his boys to tag along, so I don't think he's planning to hang out here long.”

“Damn, sounds like there aren't going to be a lot of other big celebrities here then?” Angie asked.

“No, I've seen a few Broadway actors and radio personalities, but for the most part this crowd is media types and corporate investors. It's safe to say that Reggie is probably the most famous person here.”

Lilah felt her stomach growl and took a sip of her drink because it was the only thing on the table. “Aren't they supposed to have food here? Do you think we could get a menu?”

“The waitress told me that the restaurant is closed. They have some cold hors d'oeuvres and sushi, but I think that's it.”

Lilah wrinkled her nose. She wasn't in the mood for anything cold. She wanted hot food in healthy portions. Forcing herself to relax, she took another sip of her drink. Reggie would be coming around shortly. After she pleaded her case to him, she and Angie could leave and get a real dinner.

“Are they giving out free samples of that cologne?” Angie wondered out loud. “Those little bottles are cute. I think I'm going to go over there and try to snag one.”

Angie bounced off the bed and through the crowd, leaving Lilah and Tyler alone. Lilah tilted her glass and drained the last of her apple martini.

Her head swam a minute as the drink finally began to work on her empty stomach. Great, the last thing she needed was to be plastered by the time Reggie showed up.

But, on the upside, she was suddenly feeling one hundred percent less anxious than she had been just five minutes earlier. She leveled her gaze at Tyler, who had directed his attention to the plasma screen in the center of the room.

“Do you ever get back to the D.C. area?” she asked.

He turned to face her. “Not often. Our parents still live there, but since Reggie and I both live here, they prefer to come up.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Lilah tucked her feet under her body and leaned forward, smoothing her dress across her knees. “How did you both end up here? Did Reggie come first and you followed him?”

“No, after I graduated from Maryland, I came here to attend law school at Columbia. After trying his hand at a lot of day jobs, Reggie finally gave up and moved up here with me. Eventually he made some connections in the music business and the rest is history.

“I guess you could say I've been his business manager all his life, but in the last couple of years, as his career took off, managing his business started taking over my practice. I finally decided to manage him full-time, and recently I started taking on other clients.”

“You both must be doing very well.”

“What about you? You still live in D.C.?”

“Yeah, I just bought a condo in Georgetown.”

“What do you do there?”

“I'm in the real estate business.”

“That's great. How do you like it?”

“It's fine.” Her answer came out like a halfhearted sigh.

Suddenly the fact that she was a very successful real estate agent didn't seem to count for much. Especially when she was surrounded by all these sparkling happy people.

Without thinking, Lilah reached for Angie's martini and gulped it down.

The fact remained that she was about to be thirty and her life was nowhere near where she'd expected it to be.

Time was bearing down on her like a freight train, and she was stalled on the tracks.

“Tyler?” The warm-colored lights straining through the canopy's filmy curtains and the effects of the appletinis made her feel like she was in a cocoon. She felt secluded, despite the fact that there were clusters of people on the canopied beds all around them.

“Yes?”

“I'm going to be thirty in two weeks.” Her voice shook with emotion.

He chuckled. “Okay, but you shouldn't worry about it. You don't look a day over eighteen.”

She pursed her lips. “Why does everyone think it's a compliment to say that to me? I'm not a little girl. I'm a woman.” Whew and she was
drunk!

Lilah could hear herself and knew she sounded ridiculous, but she was powerless to stop.

“I can see that,” he said huskily. “Trust me, no man in this room could miss that fact.”

Lilah felt her face light up with embarrassment. His gaze had rested on the daring décolletage of her slinky dress. This conversation was definitely headed in the wrong direction.

In fact, it wasn't just the conversation. She was headed in the wrong direction. Seeing Tyler reclining on the end of the bed, taking her in with his hooded gaze, sent a hot pulse sizzling through her.

In her inebriated state, she was quick to remember just how long it had been since she'd been in proximity of a good-looking man and a bed. She had a sudden, wacky impulse to climb on top of him.

But two drinks hadn't made her bold enough for that. Her survival instincts were still intact. “Do you think Reggie will notice?”

Tyler straightened into a sitting position. “Of course, in fact, let me find out what's keeping him.” He took his cell phone out of his jacket. “I need to find a better signal. Be right back.”

Lilah didn't watch him walk away. The room was spinning. She lay back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

Tyler swore under his breath. Contrary to what many outsiders believed, tonight was the first time in history that Tyler had been jealous of his brother.

As a general rule, he and Reggie weren't even attracted to the same type of women. It's not that Reggie was particular. He wasn't. He liked them all shapes and sizes. On more than one occasion, his younger brother had tried to offer Tyler his leftover groupies. Tyler always refused.

Easy and available wouldn't do for him. He had a more discriminating eye. They had to be sophisticated, ambitious and intelligent. But he was a man. He liked them sexy with curves, too.

As a result of the brothers' differing needs, the two never fought over women—or anything else for that matter. Reggie wanted fame. Tyler just wanted success. Reggie wanted to make music. Tyler wanted to make money. They were like yin and yang. Perfect opposites, which made for a balanced relationship between them.

Until now.

For the first time Tyler felt himself coveting something that wasn't meant for him. Lilah Banks had walked into his life and captured his attention entirely. For the first time that he could remember, he'd been about to indulge in a serious public display of affection. And from the look on Lilah's face, he was certain she was on the same page.

Only the Martin man that she wanted was his brother.

So be it, Tyler told himself. He wasn't hard up for dates. He'd been casually seeing an attorney for the past few weeks. The best thing for him now was to find his brother and leave the rest to Lilah.

He no longer wanted to be involved. After finally finding a signal downstairs, outside the bathrooms, Tyler speed-dialed his brother.

“Yo.”

“Where are you? You said you'd be up in ten minutes. You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm just going to bring the girls down to you, okay?”

“Uh, actually, bro, me and the boys are at the 40/40 club. I was just about to call you. Why don't you grab the girls and meet up with us here?”

“Are you kidding me? You left without telling me? Why would you do that?” Tyler tensed. He was ready to launch into a lecture on wasting other people's time.

“The boys were getting bored. We had to roll quick so we wouldn't get caught by the fans. I didn't have time to come upstairs. The manager let us out the back door.”

“You could have called me. The only reason I'm here tonight is to meet your friend. What happened with that?”

“He's here. Don't trip. Just come meet us.”

“No, I'm done for tonight. Later.” Tyler clicked the phone closed before his brother could respond. His anger would ebb quicker if he didn't have to hear the kid's voice right now.

Great. Now he had to go back to the girls and tell them they'd crashed this place for nothing. Oh well. He'd done what he could. Now he just wanted to get home and take a shower. Preferably cold.

As Tyler crossed the room, he saw that Angie seemed to be on the receiving end of an intense sales pitch from one of the Isosceles promoters. Climbing the steps to their bed, he froze, taking in Lilah's prone form.

Sleeping Beauty.

Her face was burrowed into one of the satin pillows and her feet were curled beneath her. Hair slipped out of her up-do to trickle down her neck. For a fleeting second Tyler had the strong urge to curl up beside her and kiss her awake.

He shook it off. He wasn't Prince Charming in this fairy tale. That role was reserved for someone else.

Moving over to Lilah's side, Tyler gently lowered his weight onto the bed, careful not to startle her. He leaned over her and softly prodded her shoulder. “Lilah, wake up.”

She murmured under her breath and rolled onto her back. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a sleepy smile.

“Lilah, I—”

She grabbed his lapel and jerked him downward. Tyler found himself sprawled across Lilah's body. Then she kissed him.

Wide-eyed, Tyler remained as still as stone as Lilah's lips explored his. Feeling his ardor resurface, he groaned in defeat and took over the kiss.